Windows 8 will offer the ability for users to essentially perform a reformat with close to "push-button" convenience. This was the stated design goal for the feature meant to get any Windows 8 PC back to a "good and predictable state," according to a new Building Windows 8 blog post written by Desmond Lee, a program manager on Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Fundamentals team.

In a nutshell, booting a Windows 8 PC into the Windows RE (Recovery Environment) will present the user with an option to perform a "refresh" or a "reset." The former will result in all personal data, important settings and Metro style apps prior to reinstalling Windows being kept. On the other hand, performing a "reset" will perform a re-installation which will remove all personal data, apps and settings. In addition, Windows RE will come with a "thorough" option that will erase data in such a way as to limit the effectiveness of data recovery tools.

Information provided by Microsoft shows the amount of time required to perform a refresh to be 8 minutes 22 seconds, while a quick reset will take only 6 minutes 12 seconds. A thorough reset on a PC without BitLocker enabled will take 23 minutes 52 seconds--which is still pretty reasonable, while a thorough reset of a PC with BitLocker will take a mere 6 minutes 21 seconds.

Lee explained that the much faster speed for BitLocker is because an encryption drive only requires its encryption metadata to be erased to render all data unrecoverable. And yes, a tool will be available to create a bootable USB flash drive for users who prefer its usefulness in situations where a disk drive may be so badly thrashed that Windows RE won't start. The option to recover disk space by removing hidden recovery partitions will also be offered.

The new refresh and restore option is scheduled to appear in Windows 8 Beta that will debut next month.

For more:
- check out this article at Network World
- check out this article at CNET News

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